Sunday recap, and the first day of vacation

Yesterday was a particularly busy Lord's Day. I taught the adult Sunday School class in the morning before the service. The passage was Genesis 9:18-29, which includes the famous - or infamous? - verse in which Noah curses Canaan to be a "servant of servants" for his father Ham's sin. Incredibly, this verse was often used to defend the slavery of blacks, on the supposition that Ham's descendants included black Africans. This is a good example of an abuse of Scripture, and thankfully this interpretation has long been discredited.

The morning service was special for a couple of reasons. First, a new family formally became members of the church with their profession of faith. Second, I had the honor of baptizing two little girls. One was the baby of the family we had just received as members, and the other was our very own Monica. What a privilege it is to apply the sign and seal of God's covenant promises to the children of God's people! Some people were surprised at how much water I applied to their heads. I used a handful of water for each word, "Father," "Son," and "Spirit." So, the babies got fairly doused. But, as the water signifies the washing away of our sins by the grace of God, why not use a lot of it?

Here is a picture of the two girls. Monica is the one sleeping!

After having company over in the afternoon, I then preached at the evening service. By the end of the evening, I was exhausted. But today was the first day of a week-long vacation. I've been looking forward to this week off for a while now. I can use the break. Here is a picture of our family after the morning service.